Clandestine
by Ron4
Summary: Seth and Summer begin a secret relationship, though Ryan and Marissa have their suspicions. At first, things are rocky, but they soon form into something smooth, but clandestine.
1. Touched

Clandestine  
  
Chapter One: Touched  
  
It was just Seth and Summer at the table. Ryan had just excused himself to the restroom, and soon before, Marissa had hurried to answer the ringing phone. The four had been sharing lunch in Marissa's backyard, and Summer didn't seem too happy about sitting next to Seth. Of course, she thought, it was better than sitting across from him and having to see him staring at her every time she looked up.  
  
"You look nice today," he said nonchalantly.  
  
Summer looked at him. She gave him an obviously fake smile, and made a noise that was somewhere between a disgusted sigh and a mumbling acknowledgement. "Gross," she said, noticing a bit of salad dressing near Seth's mouth. "You've got food on your face, wipe it off."  
  
He wiped his mouth with his napkin. "Gone?"  
  
"No," she complained. He wiped again and gave her a questioning look. "Ugh, give me your napkin," she ordered, grabbing it before he had a chance to hand it to her. She wiped the dressing off quickly, as not to have to touch him too long. Having not realized that her ring and pinky fingers weren't on the napkin, they brushed across his cheek. It sent an odd enjoyment through her fingers. His face was clean-shaven, and the skin that her fingers made contact with was so perfectly smooth.  
  
She almost let her hand linger at his cheek, but caught herself. She threw his napkin down on the table, next to his silverware. "Thanks," he mumbled. He, also, had felt something. It had only been in Seth's wildest dreams that Summer would ever touch him, and here she was, doing just that... though it was kind of embarrassing why.  
  
"Uh huh," she said, trying to sound more disgusted than she actually was. She still thought Seth was a dork, and she still didn't have any feelings, whatsoever, for him, but... his skin was so amazing. She felt stupid for feeling enjoyment from touching someone's face, but at the same time she didn't. It was weird, but there was just something about his skin.  
  
Before either of them could say anything more, Ryan arrived back at the table. "Marissa says she'll be out in a sec," he supplied, reseating himself.  
  
"Good," Summer said, shooting an annoyed glance at Seth. Ryan could tell that something had happened, but he didn't want to push it. Summer, no doubt, would go off. He looked back and forth between them. Summer was stabbing at her salad, looking like she was arguing with herself in her head. Seth, on the other hand, was pushing his salad around on his plate, staring at it.  
  
"Sorry," Marissa said as she neared the table, and pulled her chair closer to the table as she sat down. She, also, could obviously tell something was up. Before she even looked at them, she heard the stabs and screeches of the fork prongs against the glass plates. She gave Ryan a questioning look.  
  
He shrugged, and slightly shook his head. Her guess was as good as his. Marissa gave them all an awkward grin, and picked up her salad fork. They ate in silence for most of the rest of the meal, with a minimality of chatter every so often.  
  
Before long, their luncheon was over, and Ryan and Seth thanked Marissa, and headed for home. Naturally, Ryan inquired Seth about what he had walked in on.  
  
"Nothing," Seth answered, stuffing his hands into his pockets.  
  
"Nothing?"  
  
"Nothing," Seth confirmed. "You know how awkward it gets between me and Summer. That's all it was. I feel more comfortable around her when you're there."  
  
Ryan was unconvinced. Nevertheless, he replied with a simple "okay" and continued walking alongside him without another word. He knew something was going on, but he didn't want to press his luck.  
  
Similarly, the same thing was going on back at Marissa's house, where Summer was about to leave. "So, uh, what happened back there?" Marissa asked.  
  
"Back where?" she replied.  
  
"At the table. What happened with you and Seth?"  
  
"Excuse me?" Summer reeled, slightly taken aback. "Nothing happened. The kid's a freak. You came back to a whole lot of nothing. We didn't even talk. Why would I want to talk to him?"  
  
"Sorry," Marissa said, trying to say it in such a way that Summer wouldn't flip out again.  
  
"You should be," Summer snapped, and stalked to her vehicle. Marissa didn't take it to heart. She knew something had happened, but she wasn't going to push Summer's buttons about it.  
  
While Summer pulled out of Marissa's driveway, she watched Ryan and Seth nearing the Cohen's house, and enter. She shook her head. The touch was nothing. If it had been Ryan's cheek, then it would be a different story. Ryan was hot. Seth was... Seth was just.... Summer shuddered. She thought it better not to think about it. She sped away from the two houses, still shaking her head softly, not even realizing she was doing it.  
  
Meanwhile, Seth was peeking out one of the front windows, watching as Summer pulled away. He had always had feelings for her, but now he thought something might actually be possible. Even though she denied it, he knew that that touch had some effect on her. She just didn't want to believe it.  
  
Ryan, who had gone to the living room, watched Seth as he peered out the window. Now he was positive something had happened. And he knew whatever it was, it was big. Seth told Ryan everything. And if there was something that happened that led to Seth not telling him, it was big. 


	2. Feared

Clandestine  
  
Chapter Two: Feared  
  
Her ring and pinky fingers weren't on the napkin, and they brushed across his cheek. An odd enjoyment flowed through her fingers. His face was smooth, and the skin that her fingers made contact with was... perfect.  
  
Summer awoke with a start. It was a dream. Just a dream. She let herself calm down, and walked to her bedroom window. When she was eating lunch that day with Marissa, Ryan, and... him... she didn't expect to have made any contact with him, let alone relive the moment in a dream. It was creepy.  
  
She opened the window to let a calm breeze lightly cool her body. She inhaled, and looked around at the view. Seth. Seth Cohen. She didn't want to admit it, but... there was some weird connection that she felt towards him.  
  
No, she thought. No, no, no. I'm not going to even think about this. There isn't anything there, and there never will be. He's a dork. A loser. A nerd, a misfit, a geek. There was no possible way that she, Summer Roberts, would let herself fall to that level. Please.  
  
All of a sudden, she heard a muffled ringing. Startling her, she turned around, her eyes darting around the room. Her cell phone. She hurried to her purse, unzipped it, and pulled it out. She looked at the screen; whoever was calling wasn't in her caller ID list. She brushed her hair behind her ear quickly, and answered the phone. "Hello?"  
  
"Hey, Summer, it's, uh, me," the voice said timidly.  
  
"Seth?" she asked, surprised. It wasn't the good kind of surprise, either. It was the who-do-you-think-you-are-you-little-freak-I-can't- believe-that-you-just-called-me kind of surprise.  
  
"Yeah, um, did I wake you?"  
  
"No, Seth, it's just," she glanced at her alarm clock, "two o'clock in the morning, and you didn't wake me."  
  
"I'm sorry, I just thought that maybe you'd just got home from a party or something, and I was just-"  
  
"I was awake," she said, rolling her eyes. Anything to stop that incessant babbling. Another thing she couldn't stand about the twerp.  
  
"Oh," he said meekly.  
  
"Look, what do you want?" she sighed, getting restless.  
  
"I just wanted to know what happened today. Or technically yesterday. But since we're both still awake, I suppose it's... no, that's not the point. What I'm trying to ask, is, what happened at lunch, when Ryan and Marissa were inside?"  
  
"What is with you people?" Summer griped. "Nothing happened. Nothing. Get it, Cohen? We didn't even talk. Nothing happened, at all."  
  
"We talked," Seth contradicted.  
  
Summer tried to keep her patience. "I know that we talked," she said, through gritted teeth, "but we didn't do anything besides you stating the obvious, and me telling you to wipe your sloppy face."  
  
"You touched me," he said. Again, his voice was meek, scared. He was talking to Summer on the phone. Talking to Summer. On the phone. It wasn't something he was completely comfortable doing. She intimidated him. Oh, did she ever.  
  
"Uh, yeah," she replied, like it was common knowledge. "That's because you were such a slob and I had to clean your face for you."  
  
"You stopped moving your hand before you pulled away. You... I don't know, you stalled. Hesitated, almost. You pulled away fast, but you hesitated, just for a second."  
  
"What a loser. Do you just dream these things up, or what? I did not stall. I did not hesitate. I cleaned your face. It's not that big of a deal. Gross, but not a big deal. I'm sorry that you thought that something happened, but nothing did."  
  
"Summer, I-"  
  
"Gotta go," she said, hanging up. She looked at her cell phone, wondering if she was too cruel. She shook her head. Since when had she ever thought that she had been too cruel? She dropped her phone on her bedside table and fell back into her twisted sheet and blanket, burying herself in the jumble of pillows.  
  
* * *  
  
Summer woke up the next morning without another dream of her and Seth. That was a relief. She stretched as she got out of bed, saw her phone, and picked it up. Taking a second to think, she found the Cohen's number in her incoming messages list, and saved it to her caller ID.  
  
It wasn't because she expected Seth to call again, nor did she want him to. It was in case he did call, and then, she could be ready.  
  
She sighed, and set the phone back down. Rubbing her eyes, she went in search of an outfit. Taking at least fifteen minutes to decide, she finally settled on a light blue, spaghetti-strap tank top and a pair of shorts. A bra and a pair of panties finished her ensemble, which she set out on her bed.  
  
She padded to the bathroom to take a shower. She let the cool water run a little before stepping into the large shower stall. It only took her fifteen minutes. Summer wrapped a towel around herself, and another around her head, to dry her hair, to go back to her room. After she shut the door and let the towel fall, she put her bra, underwear, and shorts on. She dried her hair with the towel, pulled her tank top on, and put her hair in a ponytail. So not her style. But she was in a ponytail kind of mood today.  
  
For the second time that morning, though this time it was at a more reasonable hour, her cell rang. She grabbed it off the table. The flashing name read "Seth." She pushed the green "call" button.  
  
"Seth? I'm sorry about earlier, I wa-" she began. But why? Why was she apologizing?  
  
"Summer?" It wasn't Seth.  
  
"Who is this?" she asked, confused.  
  
"It's Ryan," came the answer.  
  
That explained it. Duh. They lived together. Same house, same phone, Summer. "Oh, hey," she cleared her throat. "What's up?"  
  
"Marissa, Seth, and I are going for a swim. We just wanted to know if you'd care to join us?"  
  
"At the Co- uh, your house, or the beach?" she asked.  
  
"Here, in the pool," he replied.  
  
"Sure," she said, slowly. "Can one of you come and pick me up? My step-mom's got my car today."  
  
"No problem. When'll you be ready?"  
  
"Ten minutes," she said.  
  
"See ya then," he said. "Bye."  
  
"Bye," she said. They hung up.  
  
* * *  
  
"Seth, can you pick her up?" Ryan asked.  
  
"Me?" Seth asked, whipping his head around to look at them.  
  
"Yes, you."  
  
"W-why can't you?" He was afraid of being with Summer alone. She might snap again.  
  
"Because I don't know where she lives, and Marissa's already in the pool. Can't drive when you're wet." Seth was about to argue, but he knew that it was no use. They were going to win. He got up from where he had been sitting, and went to his mother's new Range Rover.  
  
* * *  
  
He knocked on the door. She answered. "Oh," she said, not expecting it to be him on the other side. "Why are you picking me up?" She sidestepped him, and strolled to the car. She was walking like that on purpose. To show him what she had; what he couldn't get.  
  
He didn't answer. It's not like she expected one. She was already in the Rover when he got there. He started it up, and pulled away. They didn't say anything to each other.  
  
Once they pulled to a red light, however, he said something. "Nice... cover-up thing you've got there." He mentally kicked himself. Nice cover-up thing? Jeez, Seth, you might as well just say that you're trying to see through it to see her bathing suit. Real smooth.  
  
"Uh huh," she said distractedly. She turned around, as if trying to discern if she knew the person in the car behind them. In doing so, she put her right hand on his right shoulder, as if to get a better view. By no standards was this just an innocent touch. She wanted to see if she felt the same thing again.  
  
The light turned green. Seth almost didn't go. He melted under Summer's touch. But he finally did manage to step on the gas when the car behind him held in their horn. Summer felt something. As she feared, there was something there. 


	3. Hugged

Clandestine  
  
Chapter Three: Hugged  
  
"Hey guys," Marissa greeted as Seth and Summer approached the pool. She and Ryan shared a secret grin. Neither Seth nor Summer replied.  
  
"Hurry up and get in here," Ryan said.  
  
"You know, I think I'm just gonna go inside," Seth said, turning towards the house.  
  
"No you're not," Ryan said. "Come on in. Please?"  
  
Seth rolled his eyes. "Please? Fine."  
  
Ryan grinned. "Summer, coming in?"  
  
"I suppose," she sighed, almost haughtily, and pulled off her cover- up. She tossed it into the chair that Seth had been in earlier, and stepped into the pool. Seth followed her, and the four were all in the pool, swimming around and splashing each other.  
  
"We should play water volleyball or something," Marissa suggested.  
  
"That could be cool," Seth agreed. "There should be some stuff in the pool house. Let me go get it, I'll be right back." He got out of the pool and grabbed a towel, drying off his legs and torso.  
  
"Let me help you, in case there's more stuff we want," Ryan said, getting out as well. He dried off too, and draped his towel around his neck. They headed to the pool house in silence. Upon entering it, Seth immediately headed for the closet that contained all of the pool equipment.  
  
"Why didn't you want to get into the pool?" Ryan asked him.  
  
"I don't know," Seth said, his face not visible from behind the closet door. "Just didn't feel like it, I guess."  
  
Ryan didn't reply to that, but helped him get a beach ball and a pool volleyball net. They carried them back out, and the two boys set up the net while the girls bounced the ball around a little.  
  
Ryan jumped into the water. "I call Marissa," he said, joining her on one side of the pool. This left Seth and Summer to be a team. Summer glared at Ryan. "You start," Ryan added, pushing the ball over to them.  
  
The ball rolled to Seth. He handed it to Summer, saying, "You can start." She rolled her eyes and grabbed it. She served it over the net, but Marissa hit it back, where it bounced of Seth's head.  
  
"Woo-hoo, one-nothing," Marissa said, taking score. And she did a lot of scorekeeping, too. She and Ryan were whipping Seth and Summer, and it had turned into more of a competition than a friendly game.  
  
Finally, Seth and Summer had achieved fourteen points, and Ryan and Marissa had nineteen. They were playing to twenty. "You guys are going down," Seth said, serving the ball.  
  
"You wish," Marissa said, hitting it back.  
  
"Oh, look at that," Seth taunted, sending the ball back.  
  
Ryan hit it from there, then Summer, then Marissa, then Seth, then Ryan, then Seth, then Marissa, then Summer... and Summer scored. This was going to be close. Seth and Summer had scored the last eight points of the game, but Ryan and Marissa had been at nineteen points since then.  
  
Seth scored two more points, and Summer scored two more points. The score was now nineteen to nineteen. Next point won, and by the look of the two teams, whoever won was going to majorly taunt.  
  
The ball volleyed back and forth for a long time before it finally hit the water between Ryan and Marissa. Seth had just scored the last point, winning the game. "We won!" Summer said excitedly. She hugged Seth.  
  
Seth's eyes widened slightly. Summer had just got caught up in the moment. She hadn't planned on hugging him.... She quickly let him go and tried to pretend like it was no big deal, still teasing Ryan and Marissa.  
  
"Who wants lemonade?" Marissa asked, pulling herself out of the pool. Everybody wanted some, so she headed into the Cohen house. "Ryan, can you help me? I don't know where everything is."  
  
"Sure," he said, following her. This was, of course, just another ploy to get Seth and Summer alone together. They knew something was going on, and they were portraying something of matchmakers. Ryan had seen Summer hug Seth, and there was some angst there. The look on Seth's face was priceless.  
  
Once alone, Seth tried to pry into what was going on. "Summer, okay, look. You've touched me twice. Both times, I felt something there. And now you just hugged me. I'm not saying I've been hugged a whole lot, but I've had my fair share. I've never felt that way from a simple hug before. I...." He let his words hang.  
  
"Cohen, why can't you face it? Nothing's going to happen between us. Okay?" She shook her head. But would anything happen between them? Summer, though she would never admit it, was starting to second-guess that idea. With the way things were going, she might not be able to hold back anymore.  
  
She got out of the pool. He waited a minute before he did the same, but he joined her at the poolside table. They sat there in silence until he noticed her flailing her arms in crazed, scared, movements. She jumped up from her seat and began running around the yard. It looked so surreal, but there she was, running around and squealing.  
  
He stood up. "What's wrong?"  
  
"A bee!" she cried, still running.  
  
"Get in the pool," he suggested. She either didn't hear him, or didn't want to hear him, because she didn't go towards the pool.  
  
Instead, she ran smack dab into him. She grabbed the front of his shirt, which he had slipped back on, and closed her eyes. Not expecting her to come at him like this, his hands shot out to her arms, to stop her. This all happened very quickly, and once they realized what they were doing, they looked at each other.  
  
Summer's eyes snapped open, and Seth slowly looked at her. Oh, wow, he thought. Here it was. He could feel her warm, shallow breath on his face. He looked into her eyes. She was going to kiss him. He was going to kiss her. They were going to- they heard a door open. Ryan and Marissa were standing in the doorway, holding a tray of lemonade. 


	4. Dreamed

Clandestine  
  
Chapter Four: Dreamed  
  
Summer jumped away from Seth at a breakneck speed. It was literally like she was face-to-face with him one second, five feet away the next. Ryan and Marissa didn't seem to notice. "Lemonade," Marissa announced. Seth was too busy trying to figure out what happened to notice, and Summer was trying to act busy, checking her manicured nails with feigned interest.  
  
"Lemonade?" Marissa repeated, though more inquisitive.  
  
"Yum," Summer muttered, sitting down in one of the chairs heavily. She used her hand to flip her hair behind her shoulder and continued to inspect her fingernails.  
  
"Seth, buddy, you okay?" Ryan asked, tapping him on the shoulder.  
  
"Huh, what?" Seth snapped his head up. He looked at Ryan, who was looking at him. He shifted his gaze to Marissa, who had stopped in the middle of setting the tray on the table to look at him. His eyes wandered to Summer, who was still examining her nails. His cheeks flushed a very tender pink color. He sat down across from Summer and sat stiffly with his hands clasped between his knees.  
  
Ryan and Marissa observed this, but didn't say anything. Marissa distributed glasses and filled them full of the sweet, fruity drink that she and Ryan had attempted to make. Seth nervously took a sip.  
  
Good, but a little too much sugar. Marissa raised her eyebrows in silent confusion. She motioned for Ryan to sit, and she followed suit.  
  
"So... how're things?" she asked to no one in particular.  
  
Seth continued to stare at his glass, occasionally taking shaky sips. Summer continued to stare at her nails, occasionally moving her hand closer to her face as if a fingernail needs a close inspection. Ryan finally broke the silence by clearing his throat. "Things are good," he nodded. "Summer, how have you been?"  
  
"Fine," she said, dividedly.  
  
"Right. Seth?" Ryan continued.  
  
"I've been okay," he said, taking a large gulp of his lemonade.  
  
Marissa stared at Ryan. He nodded softly. She sighed. "Okay. Summer, Seth, we know something's going on. And these awkward silences are driving me insane, so please tell us what it is."  
  
Summer finally looked up, glaring at Marissa. "Excuse me, Coop? Something going on. Between me," she started, and jerked a thumb in the direction of Seth, "and him? I don't think so."  
  
"I... didn't say it was between you and Seth," she said carefully. "I just said that we knew something was going on."  
  
"Implying it was between us," Summer said. She was grasping at air, here. Come on, Cohen, she thought, help me out.  
  
"Nothing's going on," Seth said.  
  
Ryan and Marissa looked at each other again. "Ahem," Marissa said. "If you say so." Seth and Summer both looked up at each other at the same time. They stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds before looking down, once again.  
  
* * *  
  
"'Cause I am barely breathing/ and I can't find the air/ I don't know who I'm kidding/ imagining you care." Seth sighed and switched off the radio. The perfect song for the end of the perfect day. Sarcasm. Such a wonderful thing.  
  
Marissa and Summer had both left soon after the lemonade break, although Marissa and Ryan did wash the glasses and pitcher. Seth had gone into the kitchen to see what they were up to, and they were flirting - flicking water and soap suds at each other, he laughing and she giggling. Seth had turned on a dime, heading up to his bedroom.  
  
He couldn't stand to see them flirt when the girl of his dreams was playing with him like this. He knew she felt something. But she didn't want to admit it to anyone; not to Seth, not to Ryan and Marissa, and definitely not to herself.  
  
Now, he was flopped on his bed, his blanket and sheet tangled in a disarrayed mess on the floor. He was on his stomach with his head under his pillow. His knee jutted up into his stomach, and his other leg was bent into a semi-painful position in the other direction. He had put on thick flannel pajamas as well, and it was a hot day, and it was hot in his room. He didn't care. He didn't mind being uncomfortable right now. Summer had taken care of that earlier, his feeling uncomfortable, at the poolside table.  
  
Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep. Seth often muttered in his sleep, and this nap was no different. He was sweating from his pajamas and the pillow over his head, and swashing around. Brow furrowed, Seth muttered in his sleep. He muttered nonsense words, unordered and muddled up.  
  
Seth dreamed.  
  
Summer ran into Seth. She grabbed the front of his shirt and closed her eyes. His hands shot out to her arms, to stop her. They looked at each other. Summer's eyes were wide. He could feel her warm breath on his face. He looked into her eyes. She was going to kiss him. He was going to kiss her.  
  
She leaned into him, kissing him softly. Her lips were amazing, like the essence of all perfection. He kissed back, bringing it from a soft kiss to a hard one. It soon quickened, becoming more passionate. Seth felt Summer's hand slide up his chest and fall to rest on his shoulder, pulling him closer to her.  
  
The kiss broke, and he looked into her eyes. They showed compassion and something not quite unlike she had found her one and only, her soul mate.  
  
Seth awoke with a jolt, sweat drenching his body. His breath was even a bit ragged. There was no way he could sleep right now. He wiped his forehead with his flannel sleeve before pulling off both pieces of his sleepwear. He sat there, clammy, in nothing but his boxers, debating on whether he should do what he was contemplating or not.  
  
He nodded softly, and scrambled for a phone. He punched in Summer's number, and held it up to his ear. 


	5. Tired

Clandestine  
  
Chapter Five: Tired  
  
Ringing from her cell phone shook Summer out of her writing stupor. She set her diary down beside her and grabbed the phone. Flashing on the screen was "Seth," once again.  
  
"Hello," she answered.  
  
"Summer?" This time it was Seth, not Ryan.  
  
"Yes," she said impatiently.  
  
"Is there-" he began, but she cut him off.  
  
"There's nothing going on between us," she said. She said this without much force; after all, she'd been hearing it a lot over the past few days. She looked into the mirror across from her bed and straightened out her hair, waiting for him to say something. "Seth?"  
  
"Yeah?" he answered meekly.  
  
"Why do you keep asking me this?" she asked. This was another surreal-type moment for Seth. When she said it, it seemed strangely out of place.  
  
"Gee, Summer, maybe because I think something could happen. We almost kissed today. Don't tell me you weren't going to do it, either. I saw it in your eyes," he snapped. It was her turn to not reply right away. "Summer?"  
  
"I, uh... yeah," she cleared her throat.  
  
"You're admitting it?" he asked, cocking one eyebrow.  
  
"Ew, no. I'm admitting that you tried to kiss me," she said.  
  
"It takes two to tango," he mumbled.  
  
"Excuse me? That may be true, but it doesn't take two to kiss. If I kissed you, you might not kiss back, so only one of us is really kissing."  
  
"I would kiss back," he answered, his voice almost inaudible, it was so soft.  
  
"What I can't figure out is why you like me so much. I hate to admit it, but I'm very rude to you. Why do you keep trying to make something happen?"  
  
"You really want to know?" he asked.  
  
"I asked, didn't I?" she replied bitterly.  
  
"Because you're smart. You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. You're fun to be around, and you're really interesting. You're funny when you want to be, and serious when you need to be. You're strong in the sense that you don't let people tell you what to do or push you around. You can conform when need be, or be different when the occasion calls for it. I mean, golly gee. What's not to see in a girl like you?" he spieled.  
  
"You see all of this through the attitude I give you?"  
  
"I try not to let my first impression fall victim to my permanent impression. People aren't always what they seem, and people change. I know that we have some weird connection. I just wish that you felt the same way."  
  
She bit her lip. "Look, Seth, I have to go. I'll get back to you," she said, and hung up. She shut her phone off, too, to make sure he didn't call back. She needed to eat something. Ice cream. Ice cream got her mind off things. She hurried downstairs and to the kitchen, hoping to find some Mint Chocolate Chip stashed in the freezer. She had a craving for mint.  
  
On Summer's bed lay her open diary. If one were to read the tidy cursive that was scrawled across the showing page, they would have been incredibly taken aback.  
  
::We almost kissed. God, it was so close. Honestly, our lips were so close together that I could taste the mint on his breath. If only Coop and Ryan wouldn't have came out. Talk about bad timing. I can't risk doing anything with Cohen if they know. I can't let my reputation go down the drain for a relationship. No matter how bad I want it. I mean, there was a bee pestering me, and I purposely overreacted. How pathetic am I? Just to see what he would do. He practically wrapped his arms around me. It was cute, but... no. I can't think that way. It'll make me want it more, and I can't have that. It won't work. And nobody can know. So all of these things just::  
  
That was where the phone rang. Yes, Summer Roberts was developing feelings for the very boy she least expected to. Seth Cohen had just started to roll into Summer's dreams and thoughts and view. But Ryan Atwood and Marissa Cooper could never find out anything.  
  
* * *  
  
Seth listened to the nothingness of the line after Summer had hung up. He didn't remove the phone receiver from his ear. Soon, the almost monotonous woman's voice began with that famous phrase, "If you'd like to make a call, please hang up and try again...." The message repeated once more, and then the loud beeping commenced, hurting Seth's ear. He slammed the receiver down on its base.  
  
He was sick of her excuses. He might not be the most experienced with girls, but he could hear it in her voice. He could tell she wasn't telling him everything. Was she too scared to admit it? Was she afraid that people would judge her? He didn't know, but he was fed up with it.  
  
He snatched some wrinkled clothes from the floor, the outfit he had worn earlier that day. He glanced at his clock. It was only nine o'clock. He snatched a thin jacket from the back of his computer chair and pulled it on.  
  
He really was bored with how Summer was toying with him. Emotions weren't meant to be carrot-and-sticked like this. It was bland. He exited his room; exited the house. He was going over to Summer's. He was going to confront her about this, face-to-face.  
  
Summer Roberts, you'll be sorry you toyed with me. Once I show you how enticing I can be, you'll be sorry you didn't have me sooner. Seth Cohen was going to attempt to seduce the raven-haired beauty. Fight fire with fire; fight a tease with seduction. That's how Seth thought of it. 


	6. Kissed

Clandestine  
  
Chapter Six: Kissed  
  
Summer had just found the ice cream hidden in the back of the freezer when the doorbell rang. She groaned, set the cardboard container on the counter, and hurried to the door. She looked out the peephole. It was Seth.  
  
Curiously, she opened the door. "Seth, what are you doing here?"  
  
"Good to see you, too," he greeted. "Can I come in?"  
  
"Um, sure..." she said, puzzled.  
  
"Are you alone?" he asked.  
  
That scared her. What did that matter? What was he going to do to her? When she realized that it was Seth she was thinking these things about, she calmed down a little. Seth wasn't going to do anything to her. He was a meek, nervous boy. He wouldn't do anything that she should be threatened by; it was just Seth's nature to not be like that. "Yes."  
  
"Got somewhere I can hang this?" he asked, taking off his jacket. He didn't even wait for an answer, and just hung it up on a coat hook that he must have just noticed.  
  
"Seth, I really don't mean to be rude, but what are you doing here?" she repeated.  
  
"I just thought we could hang out or something. You know," he shrugged.  
  
"No, I don't know," she replied, yanking his jacket from the hook and shoving it back into his arms. "It's 9:00 p.m., and I don't know how freaks like you do things, but us normal people don't "hang out" this late."  
  
"Touchy," he grinned, and hung his jacket back up.  
  
She stared at him. What was wrong with him? This just was not the Seth Cohen she knew. Granted, she didn't know him well, but that was beside the point.  
  
"Is this the living room?" he asked, stepping into a room that adjoined the foyer.  
  
She scurried after him. "Seth, I really don't think my parents would appreciate me having a boy in the house this late." Seth laughed. Like Summer Roberts cared what her parents thought. If Summer wanted a boy over, Summer had a boy over. "I really don't find it funny. I think you should leave now."  
  
"Oh, come on, Summer. We don't know each other very well. There's no time like the present to fix that, right?" He sat down on a large, soft velvet couch. "This is nice," he said, rubbing the black fabric of the armrests.  
  
Summer tapped her foot impatiently, arms crossed and her lips pursed tightly. Seth saw this, and laughed again. "Oh, come off it. Sit down with me." He patted the cushion next to him.  
  
She stepped closer. "No. I want you to leave, now. Before I call the cops."  
  
He took this opportunity to grab her arm and pull her onto the couch. "Seth! What is wrong with you?" Yes, there was seriously something wrong with him.  
  
Seth flipped himself over so he was in Summer's lap, straddling her. A lump formed in her throat. Oh wow. Seth was being possessed by a horny alien or something. However funny the thought was, Summer was too scared to laugh. She was frozen in place; only her eyes moved, jittering back and forth.  
  
He moved his lips close to her right ear. He whispered, "What's the matter?" Even after he pulled his face away, the warmth from his breath lingered at her earlobe.  
  
"Seth, you're scaring me," she managed to squeak out.  
  
"I'm hungry," he said, and got up. He walked out of the room in search of the kitchen. Like nothing had happened. Summer could die. What was he taking? Someone must have slipped something into his lemonade earlier, because, jeez, he was not normally like this.  
  
She managed to stand up and follow him, legs wobbly and heart pounding. He was in the kitchen, shuffling through the fridge. Hearing her come in, he said, "Ice cream's melting," without turning around.  
  
She didn't move from the doorway. She didn't tend to the sticky green fluid that was slowly forming a puddle on the countertop. She stared at him. Finally, he turned around with a carrot in his hand. He took a bite. He fought the urge to say, "What's up, doc?" After all, he was trying to be seductive and serious here, not funny.  
  
He had been looking for something like a peach, or plum, or grapes... something actually sexy. But no luck. So he was going to attempt to use the carrot to make himself look more intimidating.  
  
He took another bite. "You gonna clean that up?" She didn't budge. He grinned. Chewing on a piece of carrot, he walked around her, pointing the orange stick in his hand at her from time to time as he said, "You know, you're a tough one. Very dedicated. I like that in a girl." He was behind her when he put his hand on her shoulder.  
  
If Summer wasn't already completely standing perfectly still, she stiffened even more. He put his lips next to her ear again. "Let's say you and I do something." He purposely left it subtle like that to make sure her mind could wander.  
  
He pulled away, his lips brushing against her neck the slightest, not close enough to be a kiss, but close enough to tease her. She shuddered. Seth grinned. He also let his right hand slither down to her waist, holding it there momentarily before pulling that, too, away.  
  
He didn't know if he seemed seductive or like an idiot, but he wasn't going to stop. He needed to toy with her, either way. He tossed the unfinished carrot in a nearby trashcan and stepped around to her front. Her eyes were closed. He grinned again. That was a good sign, right?  
  
He brought his hand to her jaw line, rubbing the skin there softly with his thumb. Her eyes opened slowly. She looked into his eyes and grabbed his waist, pulling him closer into her. Whoa, was she turning the tables here? Maybe, at least, Seth thought, he was getting through to her.  
  
She kissed him. No warning. She just kissed him. It wasn't like a little innocent peck, either. This was a kiss. Passionate, yes. He wasn't expecting that at all. It seemed like a long time, but at the same time like it was only a split second long, before she broke the kiss. She accusingly pointed a finger at him. "If you tell anyone about this, Seth, I'll... ooh," she growled, turning away and grabbing his jacket. She threw it at him. "Don't forget to shut the door on your way out."  
  
Seth grinned as he left Summer's house. At least he finally got her to show how she felt, he thought. 


	7. Wanted

Clandestine  
  
Chapter Seven: Wanted  
  
"Summer, be ready, we're leaving in twenty," Marissa said over the phone.  
  
"Hello to you, too," Summer replied. "Leaving for where?"  
  
"The beach."  
  
"Maybe I don't feel like going to the beach."  
  
"Since when have you ever turned down a trip to the beach?"  
  
"Since now." Summer rolled her eyes.  
  
"Too bad. You're going. We'll be there in twenty minutes," Marissa said.  
  
"Wait, we? When you said we the first time, I assumed you meant you and me," Summer responded.  
  
"Well you assumed wrong. We as in you, me, Ryan, and Seth."  
  
"Seth?" Summer asked squeakily.  
  
"Give him a chance, Summer," Marissa said. "Just be ready." With that, she hung up. Summer also hung up, with a sigh, and went to her dresser.  
  
She opened the second drawer, which contained nothing but bathing suits. She wanted something slightly conservative. She only had bikinis, and a bikini wasn't really all that conservative, no matter what it looked like. But she could at least get one that showed the least amount of cleavage.  
  
She had three that didn't show too much. A red one, a blue one, and a purple one. The purple one was too small, and red was the color of passion; it looked like she was going to be wearing the blue one.  
  
After putting the bikini on, she slipped on a pair of shorts and a tank top and went downstairs. She found a pair of sandals in the foyer closet and waited on the porch.  
  
Soon, Marissa pulled up in her car. Ryan was already sitting in the passenger seat. Which meant, of course, that she'd be sitting next to Seth in the back.  
  
She grumbled a little as she climbed in, shutting the door heavily before Marissa pulled away. Marissa had the radio cranked up, she and Ryan trying to converse over the blaring. Seth grinned at her.  
  
He slid his foot over to hers, slowly rubbing his lower leg against hers. She scootched away. "Stop it," she hissed quietly as not to arise Marissa or Ryan's attention. She crossed her arms in frustration and glared at him from the corner of her eye.  
  
He scooted closer, and there was nowhere she could go. She was at the edge of her seat, literally, and he was almost pressed up against her. He wasn't so close that he couldn't make up some excuse if Marissa happened to glance in her rearview mirror; Summer knew that he wasn't stupid enough to get them caught - he wanted to play this out as long as possible. And if Marissa knew, he couldn't do it anymore. But Summer couldn't tell Marissa, because Marissa wouldn't believe it unless she saw it with her own eyes. So basically, Seth knew what he was doing.  
  
However, Summer was pretty sure that Seth was putting up some kind of front. In spite of the fact that she knew nothing about the kid, she knew his kind. He was an outcast, a misfit. People like him were quiet and nervous around girls.  
  
Then again, there's an exception for every rule.  
  
So she wasn't completely sure. She watched him. He was still pressed against her. He was moving his hand towards her thigh, and she just couldn't take it anymore. She shoved him - hard - to the other side. It got him away, but the grin was still there.  
  
He didn't bother her for the rest of the drive. Summer and Marissa grabbed the beach towels and headed off in search of a spot while Ryan and Seth hauled the cooler and chairs. With the girls far ahead of them, Ryan said to Seth, "So where did you go last night?"  
  
"Excuse me?" Seth choked. Had Ryan seen him leaving?  
  
"You were up sleeping in your room, and all of a sudden you come barreling downstairs and barge outside."  
  
"Well, I, uh..."  
  
"Did you go see Summer?"  
  
"Why would I go see Summer?" Seth snapped. "It's not as if she can even stand me."  
  
"Hey," Ryan said (in a tone that usually would have consisted of him raising his hands as if to defend himself). "It was just a question, Seth."  
  
"Well the answer is no," Seth said, a little more coolly. He felt guilty about snapping at Ryan like that, but they had just reached the girls and he didn't have a chance to apologize. They set the cooler down.  
  
"Who's hungry?" Ryan asked, rubbing his hands together. Seth and Summer mumbled acknowledgements. "I'll take that as burgers and a Coke for each of you."  
  
Summer cleared her throat. "Diet Coke," Ryan restated. "Got it. Marissa, can you give me a hand?"  
  
"Of course," Marissa agreed, all too happily. She and Ryan made way to the boardwalk that consisted of many fast food restaurants. Once again, coincidentally or not, Seth and Summer were left alone together.  
  
Once Ryan and Marissa were out of earshot, Summer smacked Seth's arm. "Ow! What was that for?" He rubbed his arm gingerly. A red mark had already formed on his slightly tanned skin.  
  
"What do you think you were pulling in the car? Do you want to get yourself caught?"  
  
"I'm in it for the thrill, baby," he smirked.  
  
"Okay, cut the shit, Cohen. I want you to tell me what's going on."  
  
He just stared at her. She raised her hand again, ready to backhand him. "I'll do it again. All I want to know is why you're pulling this."  
  
"Because I have been totally and completely enamored with you since we were in elementary school, and now you finally start to notice me, if even just the slightest, and you even know my first name, and I've never had the tiniest chance with you, and I'm afraid I'll lose it if I don't act," he rambled.  
  
"Whoa, slow down Cohen. Why can't you take things slow? Maybe something could happen between us," she said, a bit of disdain in her voice, "but you're not going to get very far with me, acting like this."  
  
"Why can't I take things slow?" he asked in unbelief. "Good God, Summer, if you knew me half as much as I knew you, you'd know. I'm a dork, a loser, a freak, a nerd, a geek, a... a loner, a-"  
  
"Seth..." she said, trying to calm him down.  
  
He inhaled, exhaled, and continued in a calmer voice. "Like I said, I'm all those things. Nobody at Pacific Heights gives me a second glance. I've never been in a relationship, never had a girlfriend." He let out a sardonic laugh. "And why should I be surprised, right? Look at me. Look how I dress, look at what I look like. I'm ugly; I'm a freak."  
  
"You're not ugly, and you're not a freak. Your clothing choices are... unique. But you're definitely not ugly," she said. He looked at her.  
  
"Right. Not ugly? Look at the people in Newport. Beautiful people everywhere. You, Marissa. Even the guys are pretty-boys. Even Ryan's been drooled over and had goo-goo eyes all over him since he's been here. I'm nothing compared to everyone else."  
  
She hit him again. "Ow!" he screeched.  
  
"Listen to me, Seth," she said, pointing a finger at him. "Don't argue with me. I said that you're not ugly. Maybe nobody notices your good looks because the image of you they've instilled into their mind is a dork. What you need to instill is self-confidence. Like I said, you trying to seduce me won't get you anywhere, but I'll admit, I was a little turned on by the fact that you were finally doing something about yourself."  
  
"Really?" Seth asked.  
  
"Not sexually turned on, you perv. Just... it was a change that made me warm up a little - just a little - to you. Hence the... ahem... kiss, last night."  
  
He kissed her. It was as simple as that. She had barely finished talking when he moved in, and it wasn't über-passionate, but it was good.  
  
And Summer didn't complain. It was perfect, until they broke away, and the shadows of two people were displayed across the towel they were sitting on. 


	8. Punched

Clandestine  
  
Chapter Eight: Punched  
  
"Summer and the queer?" the boy said.  
  
"I can't believe you'd go that low, Summer," the girl added.  
  
"Shut up and get out of here," Summer snapped.  
  
Luke spread his arms, palms to the sky. "It's a free beach, princess. What're you gonna do about it?"  
  
Holly laughed. Bitch. Summer threw her a dirty look. She and Luke had been a couple since Marissa had broken up with him. Technically, they were a couple before then, too, but now, as she had once heard Holly telling her friends, it was "official."  
  
"Get out of here," Summer repeated.  
  
"Make me," Luke said. Seth stood up. Luke laughed. "What are you going to do, queer?" Seth stood his ground. Summer watched them. Luke was huge compared to Seth. Despite this, her lanky aficionado stood his ground, hands balled into fists. She doubted he would dare to hit Luke; however, she had to admit that the notion was notable.  
  
"I do believe that the lady asked you to leave," Seth said firmly. Another surprise to Summer. This wasn't Seth at all - he should have said it meekly and shakily, stuttering his words out. But he didn't. Maybe he was nervous inside, but he didn't show it outside.  
  
"Ooh, tough. So how does this relationship work, Cohen? Have you gone bi, or do you just picture Chino's face when you and Summer are fu-" Luke was cut off by a swift punch to the face. He stumbled back a few steps, the sudden, surprisingly strong force and the unforeseeable fist coming at him being the cause.  
  
He brought his hand up to his mouth, pressed it there gently, and pulled it away. His eyes sparkled at the sight of fresh blood on his fingertips. "Oh, you're gonna get it." He threw in two punches, the first a cheap shot to Seth's stomach, the other to his face.  
  
"Luke, let's go," Holly pleaded as she tugged at the blonde's shirt.  
  
Luke wiped his bleeding lip with the back of his hand. "You're lucky, punk. You better watch your back." He followed Holly away, heading towards the parking lot.  
  
Summer was on her knees, Seth's head on her lap. He was clutching his stomach, but the real pain had to be in his face. Luke's colossal fist had caused Seth's top lip and nose to bleed, in addition to the crescent purple bruise that was already starting to form under his left eye. Seth's moans were barely audible. "Seth, talk to me."  
  
A louder moan. "Summer?"  
  
"God, Seth, are you okay?"  
  
"Do I look okay?" It was said with slight difficulty. She frowned and softly touched the tender bruise on his cheekbone. He winced. "Ouch."  
  
"Sorry!" she said, pulling her hand away quickly. She heard Ryan and Marissa's voices and looked up. The two hadn't noticed them yet, and were talking to each other, laughing.  
  
Before Summer had a chance to say anything, Marissa turned towards them. "Seth?" Her eyes widened in surprise. She dashed to the towel where Summer was holding Seth.  
  
"What happened?" Ryan inquired, squatting down to take a look at Seth's face.  
  
"Mr. Water Polo Captain," Summer murmured.  
  
Ryan stood up. "Where did he go?"  
  
"Ryan, no," Marissa said, holding his arm to keep him from leaving.  
  
Summer shook her head. "She's right, Ryan. Don't go." She looked down at Seth. "Cohen got in a good punch, anyway."  
  
"Seth?" Ryan asked, his eyebrows rising.  
  
Summer laughed. "Believe it or not, he threw the first punch."  
  
"Way to go, Seth," Ryan congratulated. "I'll bet that makes you feel good."  
  
"Maybe it would make me feel better if my face wasn't throbbing."  
  
Marissa, who had stayed quiet throughout the whole Luke-bashing/ Seth- congratulating conversation, rushed to the cooler. She dropped the tray of food onto a towel and opened the lid, grabbing some ice cubes and wrapping them in Seth's discarded shirt. She handed it to Summer, who applied it to Seth's lip.  
  
"Oww," he complained, trying to push it away.  
  
She held fast. "It'll help it from swelling."  
  
He took the shirt from her and kept it to his face, sitting up. His stomach must have felt better, for he had released his grasp of it.  
  
"So who's hungry?" he asked. They all laughed. Leave it to Seth to crack a joke when he was in pain.  
  
* * *  
  
"Ryan, can you grab me a Diet from the cooler?" Marissa asked. Ryan happily obliged, handing her a silver can. She thanked him and opened it, emptying it into the cup that had come with her hamburger.  
  
They were all done eating, and they lay relaxed on their towels, occasionally taking a sip of their drinks.  
  
There was a long, comfortable silence until Seth broke it. "Has it been half an hour yet?"  
  
"I don't care, I'm ready for a swim," Summer said, jumping up. Seth scrambled to his face, ready to join her. "Ryan, Marissa?" Summer asked.  
  
"I'm just going to lay here," Marissa said.  
  
"And if I'm going to live in Newport, I need to work on my tan," Ryan added, rubbing his barely tanned chest.  
  
Summer shrugged. "Suit yourself." She half jogged, half skipped to the water. Seth scurried to meet her. When he fell in step with her, she slowed to a walk.  
  
"Thanks for standing up to Luke for me," Summer said, not looking at him.  
  
"Thanks for not trying to convince him that we're not a couple," Seth said.  
  
"But... we're not," Summer said.  
  
"I know, I know. But, I mean, thanks for not telling him otherwise. For not acting like I was suddenly all over you and you didn't want it."  
  
Summer shrugged. "Luke's a jerk, and Holly's a bitch."  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
She stopped, finally looking at him. "Seth, you're not going to tell Ryan about us kissing, are you?"  
  
He was amazed. "I can't believe you, Summer. I thought you had gotten past that." He shook his head.  
  
"Seth, wait," she said, grabbing his arm before he could stalk off. "I'm just not ready. I have to work this out. I don't know what's going on between us. I don't want you telling everyone and then not have anything happen."  
  
"I'm not like that, Summer. A kiss is something special between two people, not something to go gossiping about. I could confide in Ryan about it, but I wouldn't go spreading it around, and neither would he."  
  
"Seth..."  
  
He jerked his arm free. "When you work it out, give me a call." He plodded off, heading in a separate way from either their two companions or the crashing waves. 


	9. Called

Clandestine  
  
Chapter Nine: Called  
  
That night, when Ryan and Seth were flipping through comic books in Seth's room, Ryan questioned the other boy about Luke. "So why did you punch him?"  
  
"Does it really matter?" Seth asked, not looking up.  
  
"Well, I'm kind of curious why you just up and punched him."  
  
"It wasn't just something random. There was a reason."  
  
"Being?"  
  
"Dude, Ryan. Drop it. I don't want to talk about it."  
  
"Hey, hey. Sorry," Ryan said, moving from Seth's computer chair to the bed, next to Seth. "It's just that I want you to know that you're my best friend, and I'm here if you want to talk about anything. Wow, that sounded cheesy."  
  
Seth looked up. He had called him his best friend. Seth had considered Ryan his best friend practically since he'd arrived in Newport, and he'd hoped that Ryan felt the same, but neither had just come right out and said it like that. "Thanks."  
  
He gave Ryan a small smile and went back to inspecting the comic pages. He read in silence, not saying anything about Luke. Ryan didn't want to say anything. That would be pushing it. It was true, when he said Seth was his best friend - he'd never had a friend as good as Seth. Never. And there was no way he was going to screw it up. When Seth wanted to talk, Seth would talk.  
  
* * *  
  
Meanwhile, something similar was going on at Summer's house. Marissa was spending the night, and she watched Summer. Summer painted her nails as Marissa slowly wrote in her diary. She would have been writing faster, but she couldn't shake the thought of how unsettled the air had seemed when Seth and Summer had come back from their swim. Especially since Summer had arrived back to Marissa and Ryan much earlier than Seth had.  
  
"Summer?"  
  
Summer mumbled something without looking up. Marissa took this as a go-ahead.  
  
"What happened between you and Seth today?"  
  
"Nothing," Summer replied. She said it casually, but Marissa saw her pause in mid-stroke of the nail polish brush before picking up the rhythmic pattern again.  
  
Marissa closed her diary and set it aside, tossing her pen down with it. "Come on, Sum, I know something happened. You're never this quiet."  
  
What was it with best friends being able to sense this kind of stuff, anyway? Summer thought bitterly. Aloud, she said, "Seth and I had a... spat."  
  
"Spat? That's such an old couple term." Her eyes flashed. "Summer, did you and Seth...?"  
  
Summer looked up, an exasperated expression upon her face. "Did we what, Marissa?" Her tone was caustic and unlike her, although it was much better than the silence.  
  
"Did you become a couple?"  
  
"No, and that's exactly the problem," Summer half-mumbled, half- sighed.  
  
"What do you mean?" Marissa asked. Summer hadn't expected her to hear that.  
  
"That's what happened. We're not a couple, we had a spat."  
  
"Come on, Summer," Marissa complained, stretching the "o" in "on".  
  
"What?"  
  
"I'm your best friend."  
  
Pulling the friends card, even in a situation like this, was never a good thing.  
  
Summer sighed. "We kissed. Luke and Holly caught us, I asked them to leave, they wouldn't, Seth stood up to Luke. We went to swim, I brought up the subject, then I had to go and tell him not to tell anyone." She left the part out about the time that she kissed him, prior to the most recent incident.  
  
"Wait. You kissed? You and Seth?" Marissa asked, unbelieving.  
  
"Yes," Summer sighed, resuming her nail-painting nervously.  
  
"How... how was it?" Marissa asked.  
  
"Coop! You're all over Ryan, yet you want to know how good of a kisser Cohen is?"  
  
"No," Marissa laughed. "It's not as if I want Seth. I just wanted to know if it was really that bad. Was giving him a chance a good thing?"  
  
Summer sighed, this time more blithe than her earlier, exasperated sighs. "It was good. Who would have thought he could kiss like that? I mean, it wasn't even all that passionate of a kiss. It was just... I don't know. Then they had to come and ruin it."  
  
"See, giving him a chance didn't kill you."  
  
"No, but I may have killed any chance of us having anything."  
  
"You have to talk to him," Marissa told her.  
  
"Yeah. Right," Summer snorted.  
  
"Don't you want to make this work?"  
  
"So what if I do? I can deal with it myself."  
  
"Come on, Sum. Just talk to him."  
  
"Marissa, I highly doubt Seth wants to talk to me anytime soon."  
  
"What, exactly, did he say to you?"  
  
"Something like, 'when you work it out, give me a call.'"  
  
"See? Haven't you worked it out?"  
  
"Yeah, but..."  
  
"Come on. He said to call him when you worked it out."  
  
"I'm sure he was being sarcastic, Marissa," Summer said.  
  
"What's the worst that could happen? Think about it, Summer. What have you got to lose?"  
  
"For starters, a chance for anything to happen. If he's really mad right now, he's not going to want to talk to me."  
  
"Fine, do what you want. I just don't want to have to tell you that I told you so. Again." With that, Marissa walked into the adjoining bathroom. Summer bit her lip uneasily. Until a few weeks ago, Marissa had dated Luke for about six years. Six years. They had gone through their ups and downs, and until Luke completely broke Marissa's trust by cheating, they had gotten through everything. So maybe Marissa was right.  
  
* * *  
  
The Cohen's phone rang. "I'll get it," Seth replied lazily. He sauntered from the dining room table, where the family was eating, to the nearest phone, that in the foyer.  
  
"Hello?" There was no answer. "Hello?" he repeated.  
  
"Seth?"  
  
"Summer?" he questioned, lowering his voice so the others couldn't overhear.  
  
"Yeah, I... can you meet me tonight?"  
  
"Summer, after this afternoon, I really don't think-" he began, but she cut him off.  
  
"I want to make things right. Please, just meet me in front of the ice cream shop on the boardwalk in two hours."  
  
Seth sighed. "Fine. I'll be there."  
  
"You won't regret it," Summer promised. Without another word, she hung up, and he followed suit. He reseated himself at the table.  
  
"Who was it?" Kirsten asked.  
  
"Telemarketer," Seth shrugged. 


	10. Angered

Clandestine  
  
Chapter Ten: Angered  
  
Two hours later, Seth was standing on the boardwalk, tapping his foot impatiently. Not only was the cool October weather starting to roll in, causing him to have to fold his arms tightly against the chilly air, he had snuck out of the house - not an easy feat considering that everyone was somewhere downstairs (either the den, the kitchen, or the living room) and he had to pass at least one of them to get out.  
  
Somehow he had managed, however, and had gotten to the beach ten minutes ago. He glanced at his watch. It had been two hours and fifteen minutes since Summer had called. She was five minutes late. He wasn't cutting any corners for Summer; he surely wasn't going to wait around for her, even if it was only five minutes.  
  
Just as he unfolded his arms and turned to walk away, he heard a tense "Seth" from behind him. He turned around to see Summer there, still wearing her shorts and tank top from earlier that day. Her arms were crossed and Seth could hear the slight chatter of her teeth. Even in the dimming light, he could see goosebumps dotting her arms and legs.  
  
"Why didn't you change?" he asked, sounding more concerned than he wished. He quickly yanked his jacket off and wrapped it around her shoulders.  
  
"Thanks," she said softly.  
  
"I don't want you to freeze to death. That doesn't change anything." He stared up at the ten o'clock sky, wishing that he hadn't eaten so much at the late dinner - he was stuffed. And when Seth was overly full, he was more apt to agree to something, just to shut the person up. He hoped that Summer didn't use her intense convincing powers on him.  
  
"Come on, Seth, please don't do this."  
  
"Do what? You're the one that doesn't want anything to happen."  
  
"I never said that," she said, a hint of oppressed anger in her voice.  
  
"But you don't want anyone to know. If something has to be kept secret, and nobody can know, what's the sense?" he said, though his anger wasn't as oppressed.  
  
"We would know, Seth. That's all that matters."  
  
"Whatever, Summer. Whatever. I guess I'm just finally seeing your true colors."  
  
She almost let him leave, staring after his slowly receding silhouette. Then she realized that if she let him go, that would be that. There would be nothing later on. No Summer and Seth. No Seth and Summer. Ever. So that's why she did it.  
  
What was it that she did? Kissed him. She jogged up to him, jerked his shoulder around, and kissed him hard. And it almost worked.  
  
For a few seconds, Seth didn't respond. He just stood there. But then he realized exactly what was going on, and he grabbed her shoulders, and he pushed her back. "Summer." That was all he said. "Summer." She didn't know what tone it was that he was using. Was it warning? Was it anger? Confusion, hurt, cynicism? She didn't know. All she knew was that it wasn't good.  
  
He looked at her until he was convinced that she wouldn't follow him again, and he resumed his trek back home.  
  
Curiously, when he was at least a couple hundred feet away, he glanced back. She was sitting on the sidewalk, face in her hands. He could hear tiny, almost inaudible, choked sobs.  
  
That was what almost made him turn back. Almost. If he did, turn back, it would mean forgiveness. And he wasn't ready to forgive her. Maybe people were right when they said that Summer was devoid of human emotion. Or devoid of comprehension of human emotion, at least. She just didn't understand how she had made him feel when she asked if he was going to tell anyone. But her crying... it was sincere. But Seth didn't really care right now. He knew that two wrongs didn't make a right, but not everything is always right.  
  
* * *  
  
It had been an hour since Seth had left. Summer was still sitting on the boardwalk. Her eyes were faintly red and raw, though not quite as bad as books and movies always made it seem in a situation such as this. She didn't know what to do. This whole ordeal had finally realized how much Seth meant to her.  
  
Even when they weren't close at all - when he was just an obsessive stalker-like geek to her - she depended on him. He was one of few constants in her life. Her dad and step-mom were home when they felt like it, in foreign countries most of the time. Her social life was more minimal than one would have thought. Really, all she talked to was Marissa anymore. Her party status was never the same, either. Parties were unpredictable. But Seth obsessing over her was always there. Even when she couldn't remember his name, he was always there.  
  
And now, when he was mad at her, she lost that constant. This had finally clicked in her mind, proving that she needed him. She really needed him.  
  
But sitting there crying wasn't going to change his mind. She looked up. The sky was pitch-black, much darker than when she had arrived. She really needed to get back. She had snuck out after Marissa had fallen asleep, and with her luck, her friend had probably awoken and was ready for some answers as Summer arrived back home.  
  
She stood up and sighed, sending a cloud of breath into the air that seemingly froze, its foggy whiteness hanging in the air for a few seconds. This reminded her of elementary school, when she, Marissa, and Holly (ugh, Holly... back when we used to be friends, Summer thought) used to breathe into the cold air, giggling happily at their little clouds. She would have smiled, until she recalled something that she was surprised she even remembered.  
  
One time, it was just herself and Marissa doing that, in Marissa's back yard. It was a January evening - one of the coldest nights in recent weather statistics - making it awesome for "cloud-making," as the girls called it. She remembered seeing Seth peeking around the partition between the two yards. He was obviously doing the same as they were.  
  
It was a silly memory, and really had nothing to do with her feelings. Except that he had been trying to copy Summer. Sure, all little kids had done that, but he was trying to copy her. She knew that he wasn't just doing it. It was because she was doing it. The thing was, Seth had always been there. He had waited for a chance with Summer ever since elementary school, and he finally had one.  
  
But she had never really seen him. She had never given him a chance. Now, when she finally started to let him in, she tried to take some of it back.  
  
She shook her head sadly, and trudged away from the beach, the ice cream shop, and the boardwalk. The only thing she could trudge away from was the fact of what she was doing to Seth.  
  
* * *  
  
When she finally got to the road, Summer shoved her hands in her pockets. She was glad she hadn't driven. Sure, cranking up the music and speeding would have gotten her mind of things. But walking slowly and intaking fresh air was what she really needed. She shoved her hands deeper into her pockets.  
  
Her fingers fell around something. She furrowed her eyebrows. That was odd. She never put anything in her pockets. She wrapped her hand around it and pulled it out. That was when it hit her. She was still wearing Seth's jacket.  
  
She looked down at the object in her hand. It was an envelope. She stopped under a streetlight, squinting in the dim light to read the scrawled handwriting. It was addressed to Seth. She let her eyes roam to the return address. Her eyes widened. No way... She vigorously pulled the folded letter from the already opened envelope. She scanned the message as quickly as she could. No... no way. No way. She scowled, stuffing the letter back into the envelope, in turn stuffing that back into the jacket pocket. She unconsciously clenched her hands into fists. No way, Seth Cohen. She stomped towards her house. There was no way he was going to get away with this. 


	11. Deceived

Clandestine  
  
Chapter Eleven: Deceived  
  
Before Summer even thought of going to bed, she sat on her bed, vigorously writing on a piece of notebook paper. She compared it to Seth's letter, and the handwriting was close enough. She was satisfied with it. She imitated the signature on her own letter, and folded it.  
  
She situated it in a new envelope, which she had already written the address and return address on. Of course, neither was hers. She was acting as the person whom Seth had received the original letter from. She licked the envelope, frowning at the bitter taste (she couldn't remember the last time she had licked an envelope herself), and applied a stamp to the upper right-hand corner.  
  
She grinned. Watch out, Seth Cohen.  
  
* * *  
  
The next morning, Thursday, Summer was sauntering up to the Cohen's mailbox as naturally as possible. This seemed so weird; all of this stuff - drama and kissing and hugging and angst - had started just three days ago, on Monday. Yet here she was, trying to get even with him already.  
  
She craftily inserted her envelope into the thin slot, hoping that Seth wouldn't notice the lack of a postmark over the stamp. She really hoped this worked.  
  
She made way to Marissa's house, smirk on her face. Let the games begin.  
  
* * *  
  
"Dude, I got another letter from Anna," Seth called to Ryan, stepping into the pool house. He held up the envelope for proof.  
  
"Do you really think you should be doing that?" Ryan asked sincerely. He glanced at Seth, his eyes icier than usual. When they were like that, Seth knew he was being serious.  
  
However, this time he waved it off. "Doing what?"  
  
Ryan shook his head. He couldn't win with this kid. He sighed and went back to the book he was reading.  
  
Seth dropped down on Ryan's bed, ripping open the envelope. He quickly scanned the words, barely noticing the fact that the handwriting didn't look right; after all, what she had written was awesome news. He read it aloud to Ryan.  
  
"Dear Seth, how are you? Guess what? I'm going to be back in Newport this weekend! Tahiti's been great, but I can't wait to get back to see you! I should be back before noon on Friday, so what do you say we meet at the Crab Shack then? I'll be waiting! Love, Anna."  
  
Ryan shook his head again. "You better hope Summer doesn't catch you."  
  
"Dude, what are you talking about?" Seth asked.  
  
Ryan let the book fall to the couch. "Seth, you're playing them. You've been writing to Anna ever since she left, telling her you'd be waiting for her. But you've been all up on Summer this whole time."  
  
"There's nothing going on between me and Summer," he snapped.  
  
"Cut the act, Seth. Do you think that I haven't seen what's been going on? I'm not blind. There's all this sexual tension, and truth be told, it's getting on my nerves. You like her, she likes you. It's not as if-"  
  
Seth cut him off. "Summer and I have kissed a couple times. She didn't want me to tell anyone. Do you really think that that's going to go anywhere?"  
  
"She's scared, Seth."  
  
"Scared?" Seth laughed. "She doesn't know what scared is."  
  
"Neither do you," Ryan growled angrily. Seth's reaction caused his face to soften. "Seth, sorry, I didn't mean to snap, I-"  
  
"No, you're right. I don't know what scared is. But I do know that I can't be with her if she's not willing to let it be out in the open."  
  
"Wait, how'd we get off subject?" Ryan asked. "The point is, you've been having a relationship - well, if you can even call it that - with both of these girls. You've got to call it off with one of them."  
  
"Ryan, I know what I'm doing." There really was no winning with him.  
  
* * *  
  
The next day, Ryan biked to Crab Shack. His shift started at eleven thirty, although he really wasn't looking forward to work today. Seth would be meeting Anna, and he didn't want to see where this was going. Someone was going to get hurt in this, and he didn't want to have to watch.  
  
He parked his bike and entered the Shack. He pulled on an apron over his blue uniform-tee, tying it in the back. Stepping into the main room, behind the counter, he scanned the room for Anna. No sign of her.  
  
Then his eyes fell upon Summer. Odd. She wasn't with Marissa, or anyone, for that matter. He highly doubted that she would be eating by herself. Maybe she was waiting for someone, he thought. He didn't know how right he was....  
  
He stepped over to her, tapping her on the shoulder. She turned. "Hello, Ryan," she smirked.  
  
"What are you up to?"  
  
"You'll see. Just sit back and watch the show," she said. She turned back, and he stood there, puzzled, until his name was yelled from the kitchen. What was going on?  
  
* * *  
  
Five past noon brought Seth into the Crab Shack. He thought five minutes would be enough time to make him fashionably late, although he was dying to see Anna. His fear that he had used too much cologne died with the strong scents in the restaurant being strong enough to veil it. His heart thudded against his chest as he looked for her, even standing on his tippy-toes too make sure he didn't miss her.  
  
Frowning, he sat down in the first open booth, which just so happened to be the one next to Summer, whom, surprisingly, he didn't even notice. Summer grinned to herself before turning to him.  
  
"Hi, Seth," she greeted.  
  
"Oh, hey Summer," he said nervously. He was so nervous to meet up with Anna that he didn't even think about the fact that he wasn't on speaking terms with Summer.  
  
"Waiting for someone?" she asked sweetly, trying to feign innocence as well as one who was scheming could.  
  
"Yeah," he answered distantly.  
  
"If you don't mind me asking...?"  
  
"Anna," he mumbled.  
  
"Oh, right. That girl from Cotillion. She's back from Tahiti?"  
  
"How'd you know she was in Tahiti?" Seth asked, whipping around to face her.  
  
She shrugged, even giving her eyelashes a bat or two. She sipped from the strawed drink in front of her.  
  
"Summer, what did you do?"  
  
She cleared her throat, reaching for an envelope on the table beside her. "For one thing, you left this in the jacket you lent me." She held it up. "Now you didn't tell me that you and Anna were a couple."  
  
Seth went pink. "What gives you the right to look through my stuff?"  
  
"What gives you the right to string me along? You made me feel guilty about being unsure about this whole thing, yet you've been promising this other chick that you'll be with her when she gets back from Tahoe, or Timbuktu, or wherever the hell it is." She stood up. "Seth Cohen, given as well as you know me, I'd think you'd know that you shouldn't play with me. No, Summer Roberts is not one to be toyed with."  
  
She tossed the envelope at him, and stalked away. Seth sat there, his mouth open slightly in disbelief.  
  
Ryan stood watching from a nearby table, which he was bussing. Hate to say I told you so, he thought.  
  
But to make matters worse, Seth took off after Summer. 


	12. Pained

Clandestine  
  
Chapter Twelve: Pained  
  
"Summer!" Seth called, hurrying out of the restaurant. "Summer!"  
  
Summer ignored the frantic calls of her name, strutting down the wooded walkway. She barely had time to brush her hair behind her ear when he roughly grabbed her shoulder and spun her around.  
  
"What the hell did you do back there?"  
  
"It's called retaliation, Seth."  
  
"Don't talk to me like that."  
  
"Like what?" she asked. More batting of the eyelashes.  
  
A low growl arose from his throat. "Why would you pull something like that?"  
  
"Why would you date Anna behind my back?"  
  
"I'm not dating Anna."  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"I said I'm not dating Anna."  
  
"I heard what you said. But that's not what that letter seemed to say."  
  
"I had sent her a letter after I got that one. I was feeling guilty about telling her I'd wait, yet I had kissed you. So I told her that I just wanted to be friends with her. I didn't even tell Ryan that I had told her this. So not only do you think I'm a player, he does, too."  
  
"He didn't say anything...." she replied meekly.  
  
"I know you don't know me very well... I mean, you didn't know me at all until earlier this summer, despite the fact that I've been in love with you forever... but I'd think that you'd know me - or my type - well enough to know that I'm not a cheater, or a player," he said softly.  
  
She put her hands up to his arms. "Seth, I-"  
  
He pulled his arms free, holding his hands in front of himself. "No."  
  
"What?"  
  
"No."  
  
He backed away a few steps before turning and walking away.  
  
She stared after him, her mouth agape. No, no, no. He was in the wrong, here. Anyone would have thought what she had thought - given the whole premise of the letter, any sane person would have thought that Seth and Anna were together. Yet he thinks that she's to blame, here? No.  
  
"Cohen!"  
  
He kept walking.  
  
"Cohen!"  
  
Kept walking.  
  
"Seth!"  
  
Kept walking.  
  
"SETH!" Several people stopped to stare at Summer, who was still standing where Seth had left her. A few scurried away, afraid that the poor girl had snapped and was about to go on a maniacal killing spree.  
  
It did get Seth to stop and face her though. She entirely ignored the gapers, her focus only and completely on Seth. Even from the distance, she could see the slight rosiness blossoming on his cheeks. He walked back to her, and she could tell that he was gritting his teeth.  
  
"You're embarrassing yourself," he said. He was so close to her that she could taste the cologne he was wearing.  
  
"You're being unfair."  
  
"Don't tell me about unfair, Summer. When you fall in love with someone and love them for almost ten years, and they don't even know you exist, then talk to me about unfair."  
  
"I don't see how that's my fault, Seth."  
  
"You're the one I was in love with. And you didn't know I even walked the earth. That's how, Summer."  
  
"It's just as much your fault," she said. They were both calmed down now, and everyone that had stopped to stare had meandered away.  
  
"How so?"  
  
"You didn't make yourself known. You stayed away and watched me from afar. If you would have just talked to me..."  
  
"I tried to talk to you. Whenever I would say, you'd ask me what my name was. Scott? Sean? Stan? Do you know how much that hurts?"  
  
"I'm sorry, Seth."  
  
"I don't know if you really are."  
  
"Look. I'm sorry I pulled the whole Anna-coming-home stunt, but I was angry. Not to mention jealous. I don't handle jealousy well."  
  
"Obviously."  
  
Summer ignored the last comment and continued. "Anyway, I'm willing to start over. That is, if you are."  
  
Summer thought that it would be like a movie after that; she thought there would be a pause that was sure to end with Seth taking her into his arms and kissing her. On the other hand, she wasn't sure that Seth was like that, or even if she wanted him to be like that. But that's just what she thought would happen - at least the pause, anyway.  
  
But no. Almost immediately after she stopped talking, he started. "Start what over? A real relationship? Or clandestine little kisses that we hide from Ryan and Marissa and everyone else? I never thought I'd say this, but maybe this won't work out."  
  
Summer was the one to pause. He didn't leave. "Seth... I've learned."  
  
"You've learned?" he scoffed.  
  
"Seth," she said softly. Her eyes were starting to well up. Was it because she was a spoiled Newport brat who was having a hissy because she wasn't getting what she wanted, or was there something more? Maybe she really did want to start over with Seth.  
  
"Don't cry," he told her, pulling her hands into his own. "Summer... you're everything I've always wanted, and everything I still want. But maybe we need to take a break from each other."  
  
She flinched at his words. That was one of the worst things a person could say to you. When someone said they wanted to take a break, they were really saying that they wanted to break up with you, but they were just trying to let you down easy.  
  
He brought her hands up to his lips and kissed them softly. She let out a warbled laugh. So chivalrous and gallant. She couldn't remember the last time a guy had made her feel giddy and like he really cared, let alone when he was suggesting that they not see each other for a while. She pressed her lips together, deciding. "Fine."  
  
"I'll walk you home?" he asked sincerely. She nodded. She crossed her arms, he shoved his hands in his pockets. They left. They didn't talk until they reached Summer's front door.  
  
"Goodnight, Summer," he said.  
  
She sighed. "Goodnight." She walked inside and closed the door. No sooner had she done so than Seth had turned away.  
  
Pain was evident in his eyes. He was wondering if he had just made one of the biggest mistakes in his life.  
  
* * *  
  
The first three days without Seth got to Summer more than she would have - or could have - ever anticipated.  
  
She thought (and hoped) that Seth was feeling the same way; hoped he felt like the time without seeing her had put a void in his heart, even a tiny one. She thought. Until she saw him Tuesday afternoon. It would have been the fourth day without seeing him, but she unexpectedly ran into him at the mall.  
  
Like she ever expected to run into him there. But she had been shopping with Marissa, and they were just about to head to the food court when they spotted him. Summer was the first, stopping with an abrupt halt that sent Marissa crashing into her backside.  
  
"Summer, what's-"  
  
She didn't need to finish her question. Straight ahead of them, Seth had his arms wrapped around Anna Stern. 


	13. Confused

Clandestine  
  
Chapter Thirteen: Confused  
  
"Let's go," Summer told Marissa, turning to go back in the direction they had come from.  
  
Then: "Marissa? Summer?" Summer closed her eyes. Great.  
  
She turned towards the voice. "Anna, hi."  
  
"Long time no see," Anna greeted, stepping closer to the two girls, Seth by her side. She grinned at them, and Summer wanted to wipe it right off that blonde little head of hers.  
  
Summer flashed her a fake grin and grabbed Seth's arm, saying "Can you excuse us for a minute?" and dragged the boy a few feet away. Seth was about to say something when Summer started in. "I thought you were done with her? I didn't realize that being on a break meant seeing other people."  
  
He held up his hands in defense. "Whoa. Whoa, Summer. What are you talking about?"  
  
She slapped his hands away. "Don't you 'whoa, Summer' me. I saw you with your arms all over each other."  
  
"Summer, we were just hugging."  
  
"If that's what you call it...."  
  
"Summer... I promise. It was just a greeting hug. A friend hug."  
  
She looked at him. His eyes were pleading and his expression looked sincere. Well... maybe he was telling the truth. He probably was. She was just overreacting, finding a reason to snap.  
  
She bit her lip in apology, hoping he'd recognize the offer. He did. He took her hand in his, rubbing small circles on the back with his thumb. "Come on," he whispered, pulling her towards Marissa and Anna.  
  
* * *  
  
Before they got there, however, the two girls were having a conversation of their own.  
  
"So, Anna. When'd you get back in Newport?"  
  
"Sunday night. I sent Seth a letter telling him that I was coming back. He said he just got it this morning, so he called me and we decided to meet here."  
  
"That's cool."  
  
"Yeah. So... Seth and Summer, huh?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Oh, come on. I can tell. I mean, Seth had told me that he just wanted to be friends, which I was cool with. But I knew that he was with Summer. It was kinda obvious," Anna said, a minuscule, odd grin forming at the corner of her mouth.  
  
"They're not a couple," Marissa said slowly.  
  
"Look at them," Anna said, nodding her head in their direction. Marissa turned to look. Seth had Summer's hand in his and was rubbing it. "I don't know if I approve of it, but-"  
  
"Excuse me?" Marissa snapped.  
  
"Wha-?" Anna started, a dazed expression on her face as Marissa cut her off.  
  
"Okay, I'm sorry if you don't like Summer, but she is my best friend, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't complain to me that you don't like her for Seth. And what gives you the right to approve or disapprove of who he dates, anyway?"  
  
"Marissa," Anna gasped, obviously surprised.  
  
"Well?" Marissa stood there, hands on hips. It was such an odd site. Her arms were crowded with bag handles, and her hands had to strain to reach her denim-clad hips.  
  
"I just meant that Seth doesn't have enough confidence. And from what I've seen of Summer, she's not exactly wood to the fire. He needs someone to instill self-confidence in him. I know that Seth's had a thing for Summer since-"  
  
"Forever," Marissa said.  
  
"-and I think that's great, but can she really give him what he wants?"  
  
That made Marissa think. She looked at Seth and Summer, who were now heading towards them. Summer was her best friend, and she loved her to death. But Anna had a point. Summer liked to jeer and mock and ridicule and tease and so on and so forth, and Seth was by no means exempt from her targets.  
  
On the other hand, she'd seen Summer change. Seth had grown on her. And Marissa, dare she think it, was picking up on the vibe that Summer might have very strong feelings for him.  
  
* * *  
  
"Hi," Seth said as they returned. Marissa and Anna mumbled similar welcomes, and there was silence.  
  
Finally, Summer said, "We were just about to get some Chinese... do you two want to join us?" Seth and Anna agreed.  
  
Soon, the four were sitting at a table, trays full of Panda Express before them. Marissa stirred her fork around in the rice on her plate. "So Anna," she said, "How do you feel about starting Pacific Heights?"  
  
"It's cool," Anna shrugged, sipping her Coke. "I took my entrance exams yesterday and I picked up my uniforms this morning, so I'm all set."  
  
"Did you get your schedule yet?"  
  
"Yeah," she said, reaching into her pocket. She pulled out a folded piece of paper and tossed it to Marissa, who unfolded it.  
  
"School starts in six days," Seth commented.  
  
"I know, I can't wait," Summer replied mockingly.  
  
Only Marissa saw the see-what-did-I-tell-you look that was displayed on Anna's face. She averted her eyes back to the crumpled blue sheet that she held in her hands. "Pretty good schedule. Wait..." she said, thinking. "For some reason, I feel like I've seen this schedule before." She laughed. "I'm such a freak."  
  
She hoped she didn't sound as nervous as she felt. What Anna had said just a few minutes ago rang clearly in her mind.  
  
"Déjà vu?" Seth suggested.  
  
"Let me see," Summer said, and Marissa gave it to her. "Not déjà vu," she mumbled. Anna's schedule was exactly the same as Summer's - every last class. Which meant for the entire year, they would be nonstop around each other.  
  
Once again, Summer felt a little flicker in her heart, which she recognized as the jealousy she'd admitted to Seth of having of Anna.  
  
* * *  
  
An hour or so later, Anna told them that she needed to get home, because she was worn out from the sailing trip (though she told Seth that it was well worth it) and needed to rest.  
  
Marissa suggested that the remaining three go catch a movie. Seth and Summer thought it was a good idea. Knowing it was coming, Seth offered to invite Ryan along while the girls dropped off their packages at home.  
  
* * *  
  
Another hour had passed by the time they got to the movie theater. Ryan and Seth got the tickets, and the girls sat down at a bench in the lobby.  
  
"I'm going to go touch up," Summer told Marissa, heading for the ladies' room. Once inside, she immediately began digging through her purse for her compact. "Damn it," she swore, resisting the urge to childishly stomp her foot on the tiled floor.  
  
Another girl was applying her makeup at the next sink. "Excuse me, but could I borrow your compact?" Summer asked.  
  
"Sure," she said, handing it to her. "Wait... Summer Roberts?"  
  
Summer, who hadn't really looked at her before, shifted her gaze to the girl's face. Her mouth dropped. "Cadence Norwood!" The two girls embraced.  
  
Summer couldn't believe it. Cadence had been one of her best friends in elementary school, before she moved away. This was pre-Marissa, pre- Holly, pre-being the "it" girl she was now. "You look amazing! How have you been? What are you doing here?"  
  
Cadence laughed. "I've been good. Actually, I have some good news."  
  
"You're moving back to Newport?"  
  
"Yes!" The two girls squealed.  
  
"That's so awesome."  
  
"It is! I can't wait to start Pacific Heights. I want to see everyone again. So... are you involved?"  
  
"Cadence!" Summer laughed.  
  
"Well?"  
  
"Actually, there is sorta this one guy. But it's kinda shaky right now," Summer said. They gathered their makeup and exited the bathroom. "In fact," she whispered, "there he is right now."  
  
This time, it was Cadence's mouth to drop. "Seth?" she asked.  
  
He turned. His eyes widened. "Emily?"  
  
Summer looked back and forth between the two. She was confused. How did they know each other? And why did he call her Emily? 


	14. Snapped

Clandestine  
  
Chapter Fourteen: Snapped  
  
* * *  
  
A/N: Forgive me for the more-than-a-month wait between chapters. I've been busy and in a big writer's block rut. Sorry for the inconvenience. Also, ignore the mention of the school as Pacific Heights in previous chapters. I don't want to have to go back and change them all, and since we now know the real name of the school, it'll be called that from here on out.  
  
* * *  
  
"Summer...?" Marissa asked slowly.  
  
Summer grunted a reply.  
  
"You're being quiet," Marissa told her, moving the phone to her other ear.  
  
"What do you expect me to be doing?"  
  
"You should talk about it."  
  
"What's there to talk about?" Summer sighed. "They know each other from a few years back, big deal."  
  
"Summer, come on. I know when you find something to be a big deal. It's not like they slept together or anything."  
  
"How do you kn-"  
  
"And," Marissa interrupted, "even if they did, it was before you were with Seth. Well, you're not actually with him. But it was before you and he... had whatever you have."  
  
"It's still kind of disturbing," Summer said. "You know, knowing that your ex-friend and your current... whatever Seth is, which is not my boyfriend, or anything close... had a thing."  
  
"Yeah," Marissa agreed, though more out of wanting to keep Summer from freaking out on her than actual agreement.  
  
* * *  
  
It had turned out that Seth had met Cadence in her then-residence of Laguna Niguel. She had felt particularly vulnerable but needed someone to turn to at the same time. Seth had been up there - the reason why still a mystery to Summer - and had met the distraught girl. Feeling helpless, Cadence had confided in him, but had lied about her name, calling herself Emily Benson.  
  
Summer understood why Cadence had lied about her name, but the whole situation was just so cheesy teen drama. Summer was used to serious soap scenarios in Newport, and this was completely unlike anything she had faced before.  
  
Which made it so weird.  
  
Summer had demanded to be taken home, and the four had left. Summer was fuming, Ryan and Marissa were both obviously very confused, and Seth looked embarrassed. Cadence had just stood there at the exit of the bathroom, watching them leave.  
  
Summer had just needed time to think.  
  
* * *  
  
The first day of Harbor School brought more stress to Summer's life. Not only was her relationship with Seth extremely rocky right now, she had to see Anna in every class and Cadence in several.  
  
Marissa's social status hadn't diminished as much as they had thought, given the whole TJ incident, but it was lessened noticeably. Summer's status also suffered since she refused to ditch Marissa, but she didn't really care. It's not like she was having the best time of her life anyway. And frankly, the potheads and bimbos of Harbor School didn't really matter to her.  
  
Little did she know, things would only get worse by lunchtime.  
  
* * *  
  
"I'm going to go to the bathroom," Summer told Marissa, getting up from the picnic table. "Be right back."  
  
Summer trudged to the nearest restroom. She didn't really have to go, she just needed to get away from. outside. Inside, she went to the sink and began slowly applying lip-gloss. If anyone happened to come in, she didn't want to make herself look any worse by being the girl who stands around in bathrooms.  
  
But someone was already in there, Summer found out, as a stall door swung open. "Well, well, well." Summer looked into the mirror to see Holly's reflection.  
  
"Leave me alone, Holly," she mumbled.  
  
"So what's up with you and that Cohen kid? I hear that you're not the only one in line to be with him. Some chicks named Annie and Candace? Anyway, I still don't see it. Unless you're all in it for the money. Guess I can't really blame you there. But if Cohen's what I'd have to put up with, I'd rather be poor."  
  
"Shut it. You don't even know what you're talking about."  
  
"Oh, excuse me, your highness. I think you passed over your crown when you started screwing the loser," Holly spat.  
  
That was too much for Summer. She just couldn't handle the whispers and stares anymore, and Holly had just snapped the thin thread that was keeping Summer down. She swung her fist at Holly, barely missing as Holly dodged it.  
  
"You want to play it this way, huh? Alright then," Holly sneered, standing her ground. "Come on, show me what you've got."  
  
Summer took another swing, this time catching Holly in the chin. Holly squealed in surprise and grabbed at Summer's hair, yanking. Hard. "Ow!" Summer yelled. She stopped fighting fair and began to claw at the blonde.  
  
They continued scuffling through someone coming in and quickly exiting again. A few moments later, a teacher rushed in. The person must have went and told. The teacher pushed Summer and Holly apart. "Fighting is against Harbor School's policy. You're both going to be written up. Show up for detention after school."  
  
* * *  
  
After school Summer found room 148, where she was supposed to serve her detention. Holly was already there, and much to Summer's disdain, so was Cadence. "Ugh," she muttered, finding a seat as far away from both of them as she could.  
  
She didn't care why Cadence was there, and had no intention of asking. Instead, she unhappily sat in her front-row seat and tried not to fall asleep. But when another teacher came in the room to talk to the detention teacher, Summer had no desire to sleep. She couldn't help but overhear what they were whispering, although she pretended not to notice.  
  
"Which one of these girls is Summer Roberts?" the teacher that had just walked in whispered.  
  
"The brunette. Why?"  
  
"She's needed in the office."  
  
"She's serving detention."  
  
"It's an emergency. I've been sent by the principal."  
  
"Are you sure it can't wait?"  
  
"I'm positive. There's been a car accident..." 


	15. Hospitalized

Clandestine  
  
Chapter Fifteen: Hospitalized  
  
Summer hurried down the dim corridor of the hospital. A car accident.... Damn that limo driver. Her father had no doubt already fired him. That's the way her father was. He had probably fired the chauffeur before even getting to the hospital.  
  
So maybe Mr. Roberts wasn't the nicest to Summer, but he was still her father and she loved him. According to the nurse she had asked upon her arrival, the driver - Jacques - had attempted to run a red light (it wasn't surprising, however - Mr. Roberts was always in a hurry, and the threat of dismissal was ever evident), and had been hit broadside by a van.  
  
The room was near the end of the hallway. Cautiously, Summer turned the doorknob and peeked inside. Her father was lying on the hospital bed, unmoving. Summer bit her lip as her eyes teared up. It was worse than she had thought.  
  
She squeezed through the narrow opening she had allowed and shut the door behind her. Moving closer to his bed, she saw that it looked like he was sleeping, but she knew that he wasn't. She sat down in the bedside chair and put her hand on his. She couldn't believe that her father was in a coma.  
  
* * *  
  
Marissa looked at her watch, tapping her foot impatiently. Summer had asked her to pick her up after detention, but she was ten minutes late. Sighing, Marissa walked from her car to the school. She headed straight for room 148, where Summer had told her the detention was. As she arrived there, the detention teacher was locking the door. Marissa picked up her pace.  
  
"Mr. Nolan!" Marissa called, coming up to him.  
  
"Miss Cooper?" he asked, obvious boredom in his voice. Mr. Nolan was one of those people who didn't like to be slowed down from their normal schedule. Marissa didn't care for him much, but forced a smile.  
  
"Do you know where Summer Roberts is?" she asked. "I was supposed to pick her up." She half-expected him to say that he wasn't Summer's mother and couldn't keep track of all of the students in the school (regardless of the fact that it was after school hours, and there wouldn't be very many students at school now, anyway).  
  
"She was taken to the office. There was a family emergency," he told her dryly.  
  
This surprised Marissa. Family emergency? Summer's father and step- mom had just gotten back from France, and the rest of Summer's close family didn't live in this part of California. Unless something had happened to Summer - Heaven forbid! - Marissa couldn't imagine what had happened. "Wh- "  
  
"That's all I know, Miss Cooper. I'm sorry," Mr. Nolan replied, giving her a slight frown. He walked away, leaving Marissa standing there.  
  
* * *  
  
Summer's cell phone vibrated through her purse, and she sniffed as she dug for it. She took a deep breath, trying to steady her voice, and answered. "Hello?"  
  
"Sum?" Marissa asked cautiously. She didn't know what was wrong, and she didn't want to cause Summer any more stress than she probably already had right now, for whatever had happened.  
  
"Oh, Coop... I'm sorry," Summer said, realizing that she had never let Marissa know that she wasn't at the school. "I should have called you."  
  
"It's okay... where are you?" Marissa asked, concerned.  
  
"Hoag."  
  
"Oh my... Summer, what happened?"  
  
Summer sniffed, glancing at the figure in the bed. "My dad was in a car accident. He's... he's in a coma." She bit her lip again. Saying it made it harder. Plus, she knew, Marissa would try to make it better.  
  
"Oh, Summer.... Are you okay? Should I come-"  
  
"No, Coop, really. Don't come. I'll be fine." With that, Summer hung up and turned off her phone. She knew that it was only natural for people to feel for her, but she didn't want to deal with it at the moment. She didn't need to drag other people into her problems. Not only did they have their own to face, but she also didn't want anyone to see the vulnerable side of Summer Roberts.  
  
* * *  
  
"Daddy?" Summer asked, rubbing her father's hand. "Daddy, if you can hear me... I just want you to know that I love you. I know that we don't get along that often, but I promise to be better. I'll be nicer to you... and her. I promise. Please, just wake up."  
  
When he was unresponsive, Summer couldn't hold it anymore. She started crying, although silently, and sat with her face in her hands. She sat there like that for a few hours longer until a nurse came in, telling her that visiting hours were over.  
  
"But he's my father!" Summer said, shocked.  
  
"I'm sorry, dear. You can come back tomorrow," the redheaded nurse told her sadly. She stood there, watching the girl. Summer saw her stare, and wanted to knock that white cap right off her head. Sure you're sorry. You don't care. You don't know us.  
  
"Fine," Summer grumbled angrily.  
  
She grabbed her purse and stomped out of the room, settling down when she was a bit away from the room. She felt like screaming. It figures that her stepmother wouldn't be there. Summer swore up and down that she was a gold digger, despite the fact that she wasn't ridiculously younger than her father. But she didn't love Mr. Roberts, that was for sure.  
  
Summer walked down the hallway that she had so recently hurried down before in silence. Save for her shoes clicking against the tiles, there were no other sounds. Until someone exited a room a few feet in front of her.  
  
She recognized that person. But why she was here was beyond Summer. She hurried to meet her. As she came up behind the other girl, Summer whispered, "Anna, what are you doing here?" 


	16. Befriended

Clandestine  
  
Chapter Sixteen: Befriended  
  
"Summer?" Anna asked, whirling around. "W-what are you doing here?" Summer noticed that Anna was looking everywhere but at her, and wondered what was going on.  
  
"My dad was in a car accident," Summer told her.  
  
At that, Anna looked at her face. "Oh, my God. I'm so sorry," she said honestly, biting her lip. Something really was up with Anna, but Summer couldn't read her face to figure out what, exactly, it was.  
  
Summer shrugged her shoulders. "It's not a big deal."  
  
"So he's okay?" Anna asked awkwardly, as she and Summer both began to walk down the hallway. There was a short, awkward silence before Summer decided to answer.  
  
"Coma," Summer explained with another shrug. Even if she wasn't all cried out, she wouldn't have let Anna see her cry. The only person who had ever seen her cry was Coop, and even that was a rarity.  
  
Anna was taken aback. "A coma? And you don't think that's a big deal?" Summer didn't seem to notice the slightly angry expression that was beginning to form on Anna's face as she repeated her earlier question.  
  
"So you never answered me. What are you doing here?" Summer asked softly.  
  
Anna cleared her throat. "Similar reason." She paused. "My dad's in a coma, too."  
  
Summer was surprised by that revelation. "What? How?"  
  
Anna shook her head. "It was a long time ago. About six years ago, really. That's why we moved to Newport. The doctors in Pittsburgh told us that Hoag Hospital had better treatment for comatose patients."  
  
"Oh, my God. I'm so sorry," Summer gasped.  
  
"Don't be. It's fine. I'm used to it by now. We might be moving back to Pittsburgh, though," she told the other girl.  
  
"Why?" Summer asked, shocked. She hated to admit it, but Anna was starting to grow on her. Even if they couldn't become friends, it was nice to have a sort of archenemy to battle over Seth with.  
  
"His treatment is over, here. There's no point in us staying her much longer," Anna explained sadly.  
  
"Friends," Summer suggested. "You have Marissa and Ryan. And. and Seth. And me." Anna looked at Summer with tears in her eyes. She didn't say anything; nothing needed to be said. Summer understood. She really did.  
  
* * *  
  
A lot had happened in the first day back at Harbor School, so Tuesday couldn't possibly be any worse. Summer showed how strong she was by actually showing up at school, and instead of trying to find someplace to sit at lunch since Marissa had decided to sit with Ryan and Seth, she sat with Anna.  
  
"So what's the situation with you and Seth?" Anna asked, taking a bite of her lunch. Summer looked at her pointedly, which caused Anna to laugh. "Don't worry, I'm so over him. We're too much alike. And you know what they say.."  
  
"Opposites attract," they said at the same time.  
  
"I don't know what's going on," Summer told her. "I guess we're still on a break or whatever. Everything's just been so hectic recently."  
  
"Well, I can think of a couple things to do," Anna suggested. Summer frowned. She still wasn't convinced that Anna was completely over Seth, and even if she was, she couldn't understand why Anna was willing to help her out.  
  
"Oh?" Summer asked nonchalantly, shuffling her food around on her tray.  
  
"Obviously jealousy is one way to go," Anna explained. "But jealousy in Newport is so cliché. It's done all the time. You could also just avoid him. Don't say hi when you see him in the hallways, don't act like you miss him."  
  
"What if I do that and he decides that I don't want to be with him, and then he moves on?" Summer asked. She really didn't understand where Anna was going with this.  
  
Anna grinned. "I know how the mind of Seth Cohen works. At first he'll think he wants to move on, but then he'll talk to Ryan about it. Ask him what he should do. Ryan will tell him that he needs to figure it out on his own, which Seth will think about for a while. He still won't be able to, so he'll either ask Marissa or me. If he asks me, I'll tell him to do something romantic for you. I might have to help him, but don't worry about it," she explained quickly.  
  
Summer shook her head. "What if he asks Coop?"  
  
"I'll tell her what's going on," Anna promised. She took a sip of her iced tea and threw it, along with the rest of her trash, in a nearby garbage can.  
  
"Are you sure that it'll work?" Summer asked warily. Maybe it wouldn't work. Maybe Anna knew that it wouldn't work, and she was just trying to sabotage Seth and Summer's relationship.  
  
"Trust me. It'll work."  
  
Summer sighed. Something told her that she should trust Anna. Maybe Anna wasn't so bad after all.  
  
* * *  
  
For the rest of the day, Summer didn't say a word to Seth. She was going to take Anna's advice. Obviously if Seth talked to her, there was nothing she could do. She'd talk to him - but only cordially. She wouldn't go into a long conversation with him or discuss anything friendly.  
  
Those plans were ruined when Marissa called her that afternoon, after school. "We were all thinking about going to the beach again," Marissa was saying.  
  
"Who's 'we?'" Summer asked, knowing that Seth would be included in that group.  
  
"You, me, Ryan, Seth," Marissa listed. "Like last time."  
  
"Can I invite Anna along?" Summer asked.  
  
"Um. sure," Marissa responded, puzzled. "I didn't know you and Anna were friends."  
  
"We're working out our differences," Summer explained. The truth was, Summer and Anna never worked out their differences. Their differences just disappeared. But Summer needed someone to keep her busy for an excuse for Seth not to talk to her.  
  
"Okay, we're meeting at the Cohen's in half an hour. Can you and Anna be over there by then?" Marissa asked.  
  
"No problem," Summer told her.  
  
As soon as Marissa hung up, she was dialing Anna's number, which Anna had given her at lunch. "Hello?" Anna answered.  
  
"Anna? It's Summer."  
  
"Oh, hey Summer. What's up?" Anna asked curiously.  
  
"We're going to the beach today, and I was wondering if you wanted to come, too," Summer told her. Hopefully Anna didn't have any other plans....  
  
"I'm guessing Seth is going?" Anna asked.  
  
"Uh huh," Summer frowned.  
  
"Sure, it sounds like fun. What time?"  
  
"We need to be at the Cohen's in half an hour."  
  
"Okay, I'll get ready and be there to pick you up in fifteen minutes. We need to discuss a plan," Anna laughed, and Summer gave her directions to her house. They hung up, and Summer went to her dresser to pick out a bikini. This time, instead of getting the blue one that she had considered her most conservative, she picked out a tiny light green one with little lemons decorating it.  
  
That was enough to show Seth what he was missing. She quickly put the suit on and grabbed a pair of shorts to put on over top. She didn't worry about covering up the top; it was more to make Seth drool.  
  
She went outside to wait for Anna. And when Anna pulled up five minutes later, in the passenger's seat was one of the hottest guys Summer had ever seen in her life. 


	17. Introduced

Clandestine  
  
Chapter Seventeen: Introduced  
  
Summer slid into the backseat of Anna's car, and before she could open her mouth to ask whom Mr. Hottstuff in the front was, Anna explained.  
  
"This is my friend Scott," she began lamely. "He's visiting from Pennsylvania for a week. I told him the situation, and..."  
  
"...any friend of Anna's is a friend of mine," the boy finished, reaching his hand out. "And it kinda sounded like fun. And I've been told that I'm good at making guys jealous." Somehow his eyebrows moved in an unconscious motion, and although it should have looked corny... it was somewhat charming.  
  
Summer shook his hand. She almost didn't want to let go, but she reminded herself that she was doing this for Seth, not for Scott.  
  
As Anna and Scott chatted with Summer on the drive, the latter girl added a few yeses every so often, but her mind was truly somewhere else. She couldn't stop thinking about Seth. Scott was so similar to him. The eyebrows, his fairly offbeat good looks. Even their names were similar. Come to think of it, Summer may have even accidentally called Seth Scott a few times.  
  
"Summer?" Anna was asking, and Summer emerged from her daze.  
  
"Huh?" she asked blankly, seeing Anna and Scott both giving her concerned looks.  
  
"You okay?" Scott asked in a way that was more frighteningly like Luke than Seth.  
  
"Yeah, yeah. Fine. I'm fine," she promised, shooting them one of her famous fake smiles, which she had mastered so well that it looked more real than many genuine smiles from other people.  
  
"Are you sure?" Anna inquired softly, not wanting to send Summer on one of her so-called "famous" rage blackouts.  
  
Summer nodded. "Oh, we're here." She checked her wrist, inspecting a nonexistent watch. "Where are they? They're late. I think I'll go get- " She stopped short, realizing that her rambling was not unlike Seth's.  
  
Just then, before the two in the front seats could question anything, Seth was unhappily following Ryanmarissa. Not Ryan and Marissa, but Ryanmarissa, considering the fact that the pair was so close together that they appeared to be but one.  
  
When he saw Summer, however, his face lit up a split second before his frown materialized again. He had forgotten about what was going on - or not going on - between them.  
  
As they reached Anna's car, Ryanmarissa broke up into Ryan and Marissa once again. Anna rolled down her window as Marissa leaned towards it. "Is it okay if Seth rides with you guys? We're taking my car and we've got the backseat full - the cooler and stuff."  
  
"Not a problem," Anna grinned.  
  
"Great," Marissa smiled back, clasping Ryan's hand in her own once again. "Oh," she said, by some means the first to notice Scott in the passenger seat. "Hello. I'm Marissa."  
  
"Scott," he greeted with a cheery smile. Marissa introduced him to Ryan and Seth, and he nodded to them.  
  
Before long, Ryan and Marissa were getting into Marissa's car, and Seth was opening one of the back doors to Anna's car. "Oh, hold up," Scott mumbled, again sounding terrifyingly like Luke. He jumped out of his seat and stood up next to Seth. "Why don't you take shotgun? If that's not a problem, I mean. I was looking forward to getting to know Summer."  
  
Seth shot glances between Scott and Summer. "Sure," he muttered, sliding into Scott's previous seat. This was going to be a long day. In reality, the day was half over, but to Seth, it had just begun.  
  
* * *  
  
Before long, the sixsome were sprawled out on a few spread-out beach towels. "So, Scott, how long have you and Anna known each other?" Marissa questioned, cuddling up to Ryan.  
  
Great, Seth thought, rolling his eyes. They're all falling for his act. Anna, Summer, Marissa. Even Ryan, Seth noticed, didn't doubt how Scott was acting. And that was a hard goal to achieve.  
  
He let out an exasperated sigh, which no one seemed to notice, and fell back on his blanket. He couldn't stand to look at Ryan and Marissa squeeze together as to fit on their small towel together a minute longer. He couldn't stand to look at the expression on Anna's face, that one that told him she was happy with what was going on between Scott and Summer, or that she was up to something - or both - for much longer, either. But the clincher was how Summer had her hand oh-so-innocently draped across Scott's perfectly tanned legs.  
  
The clincher was how every laugh she laughed was bogus and Seth knew that she wasn't laughing at Scott's humor but at Seth, cackling about how he had screwed himself over. The clincher was how Scott's arm looked like it could drape itself around Summer's shoulder at any second.  
  
Basically, the clincher was Scott and Summer.  
  
Grumbling, Seth unfolded his sunglasses and nearly jabbed his eyes out while putting them on. Nobody seemed to notice that, either, or that he had even left the conversation - if you could even call it that. It was completely one-sided in a group of six, the only break when Marissa, Ryan, or Summer would ask a question or when Anna would toss in a tidbit from her and Scott's past.  
  
Scott was too fake. Even for Newport standards. Something was up. Something was definitely up. And Seth was bound and determined to find out what that was.  
  
* * *  
  
Somehow, Seth had managed to fall asleep and awoke roughly a half hour later, his skin just barely tinged with red. Everyone was gone but him... and Summer. He was one hundred percent sure that Ryan and Marissa were off gallivanting in the water somewhere, doing who-knows-what, and Anna had more than likely gone to use the restroom to check her makeup. That didn't explain anything about Scott, but Seth was sure that whatever Anna, Summer, and Scott were cooking up didn't call for Seth and Summer to be alone.  
  
"Where's everyone else?" Seth threw out bluntly.  
  
"God, Cohen," Summer said, dramatically throwing her hand to her chest. "Warn me before you plan on scaring the daylights out of me." She tossed down the magazine she had been flipping through.  
  
"I'll try to remember that," he cracked, pushing himself up onto his elbows, propping his upper body up to see her.  
  
She looked at him, frowning when she saw his pinking chest. "Ew, Cohen. Talk about a death wish. Do you want skin cancer or what?" She fished a bottle of something - suntan lotion or sunblock or whatever the stuff was called, Seth wasn't sure - out of her bag. "Come here before you fry yourself."  
  
Seth gladly did so, hoping that she was going to do what he expected her to do. Instead, she threw him the bottle and smacked his arm. "Don't be expecting me to put it on you."  
  
Her soft whack had stung the tenderness of his sunburn, and he winced. Her eyes widened, and she gasped, "Did that really hurt? I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for-"  
  
"Shh," Seth whispered, placing an index finger on her lips. He waited a moment before softly pulling it away. "It's okay."  
  
* * *  
  
Anna picked up her pace. She didn't want Scott or Summer to do anything to ruin the plan while she was gone. But as she neared their place on the beach, she didn't see Scott's silhouette against the descending orange sun. Instead, she saw Summer and Seth's, and her jaw dropped.  
  
"Summer, no!" she felt herself saying before she could stop herself. 


End file.
